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findingjoynweirdstuff · 4 years ago

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The First Two Weeks of Dream SMP Season 2: In Review

So two weeks of Dream SMP Season 2 have passed, and so far it’s been unlike any post-war period before. Far from being a peaceful lull, Season 2 has been perhaps the most chaotic, tension-filled, dramatic “peacetime” the SMP has ever had.

Let’s summarize!

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Overall, the tone of Season 2 has been both similar to Season 1 while taking on some new changes. For one thing, there’s a far greater emphasis placed on lore, backstories and family dynamics.

Questions from the ridiculousness of Season 1 are being answered in Season 2, sometimes with some strange or cursed-sounding results. For example, the circumstances of Fundy’s birth were mostly a joke in Season 1 (I’m pretty sure they went literal months without even mentioning Sally’s name once), but now that there’s effort being made to explain it, as well as the birth of certain other Sleepy Bois, we’ve gained some...interesting...developments...*cough* Phridge *cough*

Since Season 1, Tommy’s become a Sleepy Boi and is therefore incorporated into the SBI family dynamic, especially now that Philza’s joined the server. Ranboo may or may not be Niki’s brother? Fundy and Dream are getting married soon, and Puffy and Niki have a romance as well.

New Members:

In one of the largest waves of new members in SMP history, several new people have been added to the server in a very short amount of time.

Philza

Captain Puffy

Connoreatspants

Vikkstar

Lazarbeam

Ranboo

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Schlatt’s Funeral

Schlatt’s funeral, overseen by Badboyhalo, was held at the edge of New L’manberg. His organs were looted by the citizens. Everyone keeps hinting at possibly reviving Schlatt somehow. Currently, Schlatt’s remaining organs are kept on sale in Puffy’s L’Targay, a new structure on the server replacing Purpled’s Walmart.

Ongoing/New Building Projects

Some important ongoing building projects / new builds include: Karl’s Party Park, HBomb’s L’Cast, Vikkstar and Lazarbeam’s Boomerville, the Prime Path Shops, Purpled’s Skull Base, Awesamdude’s Place of Business, Punz’s house and Eret’s Museum

Important Plotlines/Character Updates:

Tommy’s done his best to make everyone on the server angry with him, which has currently led to the border skirmish plotline going on right now. He’s destroyed Puffy’s house, George’s house, griefed Fundy’s house and moved Ponk’s tower, leading to some animosity with all of them. His griefing of George’s house especially has led to Tommy being on probation. Will Tommy be exiled? Or will this lead to another war? L’manburg is looking awfully flammable right now.

One of the other main plotlines that’s been going on has been Fundy’s character arc with Wilbur. Now that Philza’s on the server, and Wilbur’s perma-dead and ghosty, Fundy’s family drama can finally come to a head and break some hearts. Fundy reprises his role as the “main character” of the story for this particular plot, something that hasn’t really happened since the Pet War. This arc started at the very beginning of Season 2 when everyone was rebuilding L’manburg.

Related is the arc of Ghostbur in particular. Wilbur’s stuck around after death, seemingly for some “unfinished business.” He doesn’t remember any negative memories, and continually forgets them whenever somebody tries to hold him accountable for his past crimes. Will Ghostbur ever settle his issues and gain a peaceful rest?

There’s been some talk of the Disc War Continuation in the future, especially concerning the Badlands. Skeppy still has one of Tommy’s discs, but who knows when that drama will sort itself out. Dream brought up the discs when talking with Tubbo about exiling Tommy. While Skeppy has one of the discs, Dream wants to put Tubbo in a tough enough position that Tubbo has to give Dream the other disc, which would put both discs functionally in his hands.

The Dream Team has been a lot more active on the SMP recently, which is interesting. George, the new king, is actually on the server! So far he’s mainly participated in multiple dress-up roleplay sessions, cosplaying Simpsons characters, Professor Snape, and Dream himself. Sapnap has streamed recently as well, continuing his ongoing relationship drama with fiancés Karl and Quackity. Dream has gotten himself into some shenanigans, including vandalism and muggings, and is currently reprising his role as the main Big Bad of the server. It’s almost strange seeing them so active on the server again, but a welcome change! Even Callahan’s dropped by to join in - the SMP’s funniest reindeer, everyone!

Quackity may or may not be possessed? Puffy’s mentioned that Quackity wants to bring back Schlatt, but Puffy is currently in possession of all of Schlatt’s body parts. She’s also mentioned that Connor is looking to revive Schlatt as well. Connor hasn’t gotten super involved in the storyline yet, mostly just vibing on his own, but perhaps he will eventually. Quackity has also taken the role of honorary vice president in Tommy’s absence.

Tubbo’s been acting a little strangely as well too, recently. While he’s been the most responsible president of L’manberg by far, he’s shown that he’s not immune to corruption, to the point where even Philza’s started questioning loyalties to L’manberg. Tubbo’s handling of the situation with Tommy shows maturity, but when he’s put between a rock and a hard place, what will come first? Tommy or L’manburg? And is Tubbo prone to the same corruption that Wilbur and Schlatt went through?

Meanwhile, Techno’s almost nowhere to be seen. He terrorized Fundy a bit at the beginning, and he’s logged on to say his own name of course, but besides that the Blade has been remaining as mysterious as ever. Wanted posters bearing his image have sprouted up all over New L’manburg.

One side effect of Fundy’s adoption plot is the plotline’s relation to Eret, who has been dethroned. Will Eret try to take power back from Dream? What will their relationship be as father-in-law and son-in-law, if the adoption goes through?

The newest members - Phil, Puffy, Connor, Vikk, Lazar and Ranboo, have all gotten started settling into the server. Who knows what their relations will be to the plots? Will they get involved, or stick to the sidelines where there’s peace?

So far, besides Phil of course, Puffy and Ranboo have been the most involved in the main plot. Dream seems to like getting into chaos on Puffy’s streams in particular, having her as a “witness” to his actions. Puffy is an agent of chaos herself and has unofficially “adopted” Dream as a sort of pet, driving her loyalties towards the Dream Team. Despite this, she has also been on a date and promised herself to Niki, who is of course loyal to L’manburg. If Puffy ends up siding with Dream, will Niki be able to keep her loyalty to L’manburg, or will she switch sides to be with Puffy?

Meanwhile, Ranboo has been suggested to be Niki’s brother and was an accomplice to Tommy’s crimes against George. Tommy defended Ranboo from consequence, but considering how short of a time it took Ranboo to get wrapped up in the plot, who knows what will happen in the future?

Vikkstar and Lazarbeam have also joined the SMP as a pair, and similar to Connor, they’re currently just vibing doing their own thing in a new town called Boomerville.

The Elytra Challenge should be happening soon? Maybe? Whoever gets the elytra will have a huge bargaining chip on the server, an item as valuable as the discs or Spirit’s leather. What that also means is, there’s the possibility of them also having a target on their back...

In Summary:

We really need that beach episode.

#mcyt #dream smp #dream smp recaps #long posts

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sirdust · 3 years ago

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WAIT i forgot to post about this last night. anyways i’ve been thinking about what millie’s arc could be since we’ll probably see her get some time in the spotlight next season and i have some ideas.

all of the main characters in helluva boss possess internal conflict over possessing multiple motivations that clash (e.g. moxxie wants to be confident and self-assured but he believes that those qualities are natural talents linked to a masculine character he does not possess, as seen in ep5, and as a result he cannot identify his own skills and acts anxiously due to his fear of rejection. this inability to fake it until he makes it feeds back into his own preexisting lack of confidence as his inability to, for example, gel with millie’s family reinforces his view that he’s somehow unfit)

millie’s come off as relatively well-adjusted so far but also underwritten. she has strengths and weaknesses but they haven’t been explored, only hinted at. some facts we know of: she’s been established as the member of the team who possesses the greatest melee ability (her name is a pun on it after all), she comes from a humble financial background and her parents worry about how much she’s making, and she has a tendency to be single-minded and ignore others at times (her lack of respect for loona, having no issue with killing anybody a client asks which is directly contrasted with moxxie in ep1)

i think her arc will involve her struggle to reconcile her desire to please her family and her own exceptional fighting ability (and potential opportunities that could bring for her as an individual) with things like her working life and her marriage to someone much more careful than she is. i think sallie may will also be a part of this; i’ve noticed sallie gets a lot of merch despite being a seemingly minor character, and while it could just be that they’re marketing her because she’s the only visible trans character in the show so far, they haven’t pushed any other bit characters in the merch like that before. so that makes me think/hope she’ll get more to do in the future.

millie’s va also mentioned, when asked to give the character one piece of advice, that she thought millie should think about who they target more. i don’t think millie necessarily has the same sort of troubles as the other mains and i don’t think they’ll backpedal on her being the relatively well-adjusted member of the group, but there are still ways they could push the character forward and i think that feeling of limitation or stunted growth might be a good starting point

#op

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nyxation · 3 years ago

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SBI + Witch-Hybrid Reader

C OR CC: Character

WHO: Sbi

PRONOUNS: They/Them

WARNINGS: Swearing | Character Death [Mentions]

Okay, so I imagine the reader has vitiligo-type skin, like patches of the grey witch skin ya' know?

Like it's grey and makes them look sick in some places

Reader could probably have one dull purple eye

Also, cats would probably be very attracted to them, like reader just come home one day with 50 cats and Phil doesn't even question it anymore because 'For fuck sake [Y/N] it's the fifth time this week and it's only Tuesday'

Also, reader can trade with villagers easier, they get the good stuff for less money (Techno using this to his advantage and getting items for insanely good prices) this armor is seven gold? nevermind one coal will do

Reader being a master at potion-making and enchanting, trying to teach sbi how to enchant, and just

none of them being very good at it

first off, Wilbur's just shit, okay he got bane of arthropods seven different times. Bitch what?

Tommy's next, he's also shit but not as bad as Wil, he only messed up five or six times, but he was like ten when you showed him so, you can't really blame him for being bad

Wilbur though he was like 16/17-ish so he has no excuse

Techno was okay, a lot better than Wil and Tommy, he got the enchanting down very fast, it was bane of arthropods but he got flame on his next try so reader didn't have to help him too much.

Phil was fine, he struggled with the inscribing but overall he did well (he already knew how to enchant but he wanted to support you and your passion)

Also reader with one of the big mumza hats with the veil on it, just, 6-year-old [Y/N] with a massive hat that they stole from their goddess mom, and it's way too big and keeps falling in front of their face

it probably still does, and the veil is so long it drags along the floor like a train, Tommy would probably steal it from you {like a raccoon}

[Y/N] being the cool aunt/uncle/Auncle/(other name for 'sibling-of-my-parent'), to Fundy and Micheal and taking care of them when Wil and Sally/Tubbo and Ranboo were away

or ftm![Y/N] giving Fundy their old binder (or sewing some for him), helping him bind, setting timers, giving him some of their hoodies, and just being there for him when/if he gets dysphoric

Okay so onto the lore,

If Reader joined L'manberg, they would probably be put in a safe, isolated area, not too far from the center but still pretty far

I doubt Wilbur would have told them about the war, so how did Reader find out?

Maybe it was when you intercepted a letter from Dream, a declaration of war, now that surprised you

Or was it when you little brother showed up at your house rambling a mile a minute about Dream, War, L'manberg

Wait did he just say he died?

You sit him down and start cleaning and healing his wounds while he re-starts his story, starting at the creation of L'manberg and ending with his death moments prior

"So Dream-"

"Shot me, yeah"

"And Wilbur-"

"Did nothing to protect me, no"

"... What the fuck"

You might just take a cannon life, you had always been a more peaceful soul, never really enjoyed the fighting Techno did, or at least not in the way Techno did.

You never thought it was very fun that was about to change

If Tommy hadn't stopped you, you might have just destroyed Dream, and every other person there, family or not.

Onto the election, mainly the results

I doubt Schlatt would banish you, especially since your a witch, he would need potions (which are like alcohol I guess)

So you'd probably leave a join Pogtopia, there would probably be a massive fight between you and the cabinet just so you could leave

They'd probably put you on house arrest, despite not fighting very often you were strong and your potions made it harder to get to you

So you were a pretty well rounded fighter

And they were definitely wary because of you relation to Techno

You breaking out and immediately going to Pogtopia

Wilbur being so relieved that his little sibling is okay

He puts you straight to work, helping ready the weapons

Forgetting that your now a wanted person

Okay, onto Wilbur's death

That fucked you up

Your dad just stabbed your brother and it hurt

Sure the explosion was a little far but killing him?!

Why

You really didn't know and didn't want to stay and find out

So you left, you ran far away into the deepest caves cuz who tf would find you here?

Ranboo

Ranboo found you

Somehow, this bitch is like 8 feet tall how did he fit in the cave

Anyway, he told Tubbo and Tubbo brought the (newly made) Butcher Army to your house, and since you were a criminal

You were supposed to be executed

You escaped before reaching L'manberg and ran to Techno's house

He had told you about Phil through an earlier conversation, he tried to help you

But you lead the army to his house, you also met Ghostbur for the first time

"Is that Wilbur?"

"Ghostbur actually"

"But is he Wilbur? "

"I guess, he's part of brother, like his soul almost"

"Does that mean Wil's with momma now?"

This definitely wasn't what the army expected to hear

"Your siblings?!"

"Yes!" "No"

"Don't deny it big brother, I'm amazing"

Maybe hitting the blood god whole you couldn't run wasn't the best idea you've had

But it certainly wasn't the worst

Ya' know what was the worst?

Breaking off the presidents horn during your escape

Now you were a criminal and a bad person

You and Phil made up and you hung out with Ghostbur

You were happy, Dream was finally put in prison and you didn't have to worry anymore

Your family was back - Broken and no longer the kids you once were - but back

Until Ghostbur dissappears during his visit to Dream

#PH1LZ4 #PHILZA #W1L8UR #WILBUR #6H0ST8UR #GHOSTBUR #T3CHN0BL4D3 #TECHNOBLADE #FUNDY #fUNDy #R4NB00 #T0MMY1NN1T #TUBB0 #N1H4CHU #NIHACHU #Baby doll me up #Not me accidentally posting this

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annabethy · 4 years ago

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under the mistletoe, watching the fire glow day 14: neighbor

Character A can’t travel to see their family on Christmas, so they invite their grumpy loner neighbor Character B,, percabeth, mildly suggestive

Percy’s heart drops as he stares at the screen in front of him. He doesn’t even bother reading beyond the words that tells him his flight is cancelled. It feels like forever that he’s staring at that screen, the feeling of sadness beginning to become overwhelming.

He doesn’t know that he’s ever been apart from his mom for Christmas in his entire twenty-two years of life. It’s the one time a year that he drops everything to see his family, but now the icy roads are stopping flow into the airports all around the city, and he’s sure that this Christmas is ruined.

Percy actually feels like crying as he shoves on a sweater and makes his way back onto his couch to call his mom. He hasn’t seen her in forever, and this was the only chance for him to see her for the foreseeable future. It’s a quick conversation with her reassuring him that she understands and will miss him. She teases him about being a mommy’s boy, and he can’t even argue because he really is.

He wipes a silent tear that falls from his face as he tells her, “I miss you.”

His mom, of course, never one to have shame, tells him, “You still have friends there. Why don’t you ask them over, so you don’t have to be alone?”

“They’re all home for Christmas.”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. What about your neighbor?”

Percy scoffs playfully, knowing exactly where this is going. “What about my neighbor?”

“She’s cute.”

“I’m pretty sure she also wants me to die.”

“Then this is the perfect time to warm her up! Invite her over. I’m sure she’s not as bad as you think. Just don’t give me any grandkids quite yet.”

“Mom.”

She laughs over the phone. “Do what you want, baby, but it won’t hurt to ask her. I know she doesn’t have anywhere to go.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he dismisses. “I’ll think about it.”

“Do it for your mother,” Sally says. “I have to go now, okay? I love you.”

Percy swallows. “I love you too, momma.”

When the line clicks off, he feels so alone once again. He ends up turning on a random movie, but he doesn’t watch it, instead contemplating what he should do. He comes to the conclusion that there’s really nothing he can do because if he walks even two steps outside, he’s probably going to freeze to death. It confines him to his apartment building, where he knows actually no one besides his neighbor who doesn’t like him.

Okay. So he doesn’t actually know that she doesn’t like him, but he highly suspects it. He’s only spoken to her once, but it wasn’t a very pleasant conversation. It was more along the lines of can you shut the fuck up it’s three in the morning on her end, and then him saying I’m sorry, I just tripped and took down an entire table, and then she just kind of glared at him with her terrifying piercing grey eyes.

So yeah. It’s safe to say she doesn’t like him.

Still, he begins to think that she’s probably alone too. From the things he’s heard about her, especially from his mom who somehow managed to have a whole conversation with his neighbor the last time she visited, she has no family to go home to. Or maybe she did, but she wasn’t on good enough terms to return, or she just didn’t want to. Either way, she was alone, and Percy is a firm believer that no one should be alone on Christmas.

That’s how Percy finds himself standing outside of her apartment door, wondering if he’s actually about to invite someone who’s practically a stranger into his home. Apparently, he is.

Percy knocks gently twice before stepping back. The hallways are cold despite being inside, so he hugs himself as he waits. He’s sure he looks like a mess in his sweater and red sweatpants, so he’s a little self-conscious, but then he remembers that she doesn’t like him, and he has nothing to prove.

The door swings open abruptly, and Percy is met with Annabeth standing there, face unreadable. She’s looking at him expectantly, peeking out into the hall beyond him. When she finds no one else there, she looks back to him.

“Hi,” she says. “Did you need something?”

Percy shifts his feet, eyeing her sweater with snowflakes printed on it. He hadn’t expected her to enjoy festive clothes. “No, not really. I like the sweater by the way.”

“Thanks. So what did you need?”

“Nothing.”

Annabeth bites her lower lip. “Okay. Why are you standing outside my door then?”

“Oh. Right. Sorry, I forgot.”

She laughs hesitantly. “It’s fine. Just tell me what it is you came to tell me.”

“I was actually going to ask if you wanted to come over,” he says, pointing over his shoulder. “My flight was cancelled, and I didn’t want to be alone.”

“So you just assumed I had nothing better to do?”

Percy pauses. “Wait, no. I just heard that you were here for Christmas, and I thought you might want to do something so you’re not alone either.”

“What makes you think I would want to hang out with you?”

Percy is slightly offended. “I didn’t see why you wouldn’t. Did I do something?”

“No.”

“Then I don’t understand.”

“I just want to know why you’re asking me now, Percy.”

“You know my name?”

“We’ve only been living next to each other for two years,” she says.

“Right. Well, the honest answer is that my flight is cancelled, and my mom suggested I ask you to come over because you’re cute.” After that, Percy highly expects her to slam the door in his face because that’s just the way she is. Instead, she smiles and leans against the door.

“Your mom suggested you ask me out?”

“And hinted that we would be having sex if you must know. Which will not be happening.”

“Bummer,” she says, tilting her head. “If I do come, what would we do then?”

“We can watch movies or make cookies if you want. Whatever you want.”

“And if I want to have super hot Christmas sex?” From the tone of her voice, she is very obviously kidding.

“Then it’s a good thing neither of us are going to see family, isn’t it?” Percy says playfully back. “But seriously, are you coming?”

“Yeah, sure. Just give me a second.”

Percy waits for her outside as she heads back inside her apartment. It’s only a minute before she’s back out and locking her door as he leads her to his own apartment. The first step inside immediately warms him, and he thanks every god that exists that he managed to snag a heater for the living room.

Annabeth stands by the couch as she turns to him. “You promised me Christmas cookies?”

“Is that what you want?”

“I’d prefer it to a movie.”

Percy smiles, and he’s starting to think that maybe they’ll get along better than he initially thought. They stand in the kitchen as Percy grabs a random container of dough. He pulls out a bunch of candy and icing from last week when him and his friends made gingerbread houses, and Annabeth grabs them from his hand to examine them before setting them on the counter.

He preheats the oven before going to stand next to her again. “You ready to make the best cookies you’ve had in your entire life?” She grins. “It’s on.”

The next hour is spent with them competing over who can make the ugliest cookie. Percy has to admit that hers takes the lead with the biggest blobs on icing falling all over his counter.

She’s a lot easier to get along with than he initially thought. She laughs and smiles with him, and shoves his cookie into his face, smearing the frosting and sprinkles everywhere, and he doesn’t think he’s ever had this much fun before. He’s able to forget that he’s not with his mom because Annabeth is something else in itself. He doesn’t know how he hasn’t ever invited her out because she is practically his best friend already.

“Annabeth,” he chastises when she takes a bite out of his cookie.

“It tastes awful,” she says through the mouthful of sugar.

Percy’s stomach flutters. There’s a smudge of frosting on the corner of her mouth, and he has to resist wiping it away. He takes a bite himself and shoots her a look. “Liar.”

She just gives him a sweet smile.

“So,” she says, leaning against the counter, cookies now forgotten. “Why couldn’t you go home for Christmas?”

“The airports are all closed,” he tells her, shrugging. “But it’s okay. I’m having fun.”

“Still. It must suck to not be able to see your family.”

“But what about you? You don’t get to see your family.”

Annabeth stiffens, and Percy realizes he’s overstepped.

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”

“It’s fine. I just don’t really get along with my family, so. I just stay by myself for most holidays.”

“You’re welcome to spend holidays with me then,” he offers.

“As kind as that is, you just met me today. I don’t think your family would react well to bringing home your neighbor that was an ‘asshole to you for no reason.’”

Percy pauses.

“I’m not stupid. I’ve heard what you told other people.”

He doesn’t know what to say. He can’t deny it because he really did say it, but he wouldn’t have if he knew that she would hear him. “I don’t think it’s true.”

“You still said it.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

She shrugs, humor in his eyes. It dawns on him that she finds making him feel guilty funny. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I promise I don’t think that.” He struggles to find words. “I actually really like you. This has been fun, and I don’t want you to think I haven’t enjoyed every minute with you because I have.”

She smirks. “So you don’t think that I’m an ass anymore?”

“I mean. A little bit, but it’s only because you just ate my fucking cookie.”

“It was a good cookie.”

“So you were lying!” he accuses.

“I wanted to win the competition!”

Percy smiles. “Then you win! I forfeit.”

“Forfeit? For me?”

“Of course. I was always taught to let the pretty girl win.”

“Pretty girl, huh?”

“Well, you are.”

“So you invited me over because I’m pretty? Not because you didn’t want to be alone?”

“I invited you over because my mommy told me to.”

“Your mommy also told you to flip me over and have your way with me.”

Percy chokes. “I promise my mom did not say that.”

“The point is you listened to her about everything else, and you told me we could do whatever I wanted.”

Percy can’t tell if she’s messing with him, so he keeps his cool exterior even though he’s combusted inside already. “And what you want is… a Christmas sex session?”

“You’re not the only one that’s cute.”

“Well now I want to kiss you.”

Annabeth raises an eyebrow. “Then do it.”

And he does.

He tugs her in close and kisses her hard. His brain stops functioning, and all he can think of is how he hasn’t done this before. It feels right, and it’s insane to think that she’s been living across the hall for the past two years when they could’ve been doing this. He threads his fingers in her hair, and she bites his bottom lip and lets out a whimper that makes his heart stop.

As Percy deepens the kiss and Annabeth tugs on the hem of his shirt until he pulls it off, he thinks that this Christmas might actually be the best one yet. He may not be with his mom, but it sure feels like he’s building something permanent with his hot next-door neighbor, and he wouldn’t change a thing.

He’s going to stop thinking of his mom now because this pretty girl in front of him nips at his jaw, and he thinks he knows where this is about to go.

It surely is a Merry Christmas.

#percabeth #percy jackson #annabeth chase #pjo #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #my writing

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longitudinalwaveme · 3 years ago

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The parents of the Flash Rogues, characters at varying levels of canonicity.

Farthest to the right in the top picture are Reginald Norton Dillon and Rosa Nicole Dillon, the parents of the Top (Roscoe Dillon). Reginald is a banker; Rosa is a housewife. They’re quite well-off financially. I came up with the names and backstories here.

Next to them are Larry/Lewis and Shirley Snart, the parents of Captain Cold and the Golden Glider. Larry used to be a corrupt cop; now he spends basically all of his time drinking and/or abusing whatever relatives are within reach. Shirley ran away from him when their kids were five years old; sadly, life hasn’t been much better to her since. Both of them are basically canon (Shirley’s name is semi-canonical), though I’ve extrapolated some of the expanded stuff.

The two on the left of the topmost picture are Matias and Paloma Mardon, the parents of the Weather Wizard (Mark Mardon) and Clyde Mardon (Mark’s older brother, now deceased). They immigrated from Guatemala when their children were toddlers and now work as a high school geography teacher (Matias) and a librarian (Paloma). They favored Clyde over Mark due to the fact that the former was better than the latter at almost everything. Neither has ever fully shaken their accent despite their efforts. I came up with the names and most of the backstory here. Mark’s family being from Guatemala is from th New 52/Rebirth continuity; the fact that Mark’s mother, at least, favored Clyde over him is also basically canon.

On the far left of the second picture is Martha Scudder, the mother of Sam Scudder, the first Mirror Master. She’s the widow of Percival Scudder (who died when Sam was seven months old), and she works as a seamstress for the Rathaways. She’s not well-off financially and has been living on what is colloquially known as “Skid Row” since her husband’s death. She was a good mother to Sam and was devastated when he turned to crime. I came up with her name and backstory, since we know very, very little about Sam’s past.

Next to Martha are Helena and Alessandro Giuseppi (alias Helen and Alexander Jesse), the parents of Giovanni Giuseppi, alias James Jesse, alias the Trickster. They’re tight rope walkers and acrobats in the circus, and they’re both very fond of their only son, even if they wish he would return to the circus with them. They’re the children of immigrants from Italy; as such, they are fluent in Italian. The names and backstory here are broadly canon (though I had to come up with the dad’s name). Also, for some reason, James’ dad has the same hairstyle and mustache as Abra Kadabra (I toned it down a bit here, but in his first appearance, he looks exactly like Kadabra).

Next to them is Miss Eva McCulloch, who runs the orphanage where Evan McCulloch, the second Mirror Master, grew up. She’s an incredibly kind woman who worked hard to be a mother to all the children there. She lives in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. Everything here is canon except her first name, which I made up.

Next to her are Osgood and Rachel Rathaway, the parents of Hartley Rathaway (the Pied Piper) and Geraldine “Jerrie” Rathaway. They’re extremely wealthy publishing magnates who are cold, distant, and demanding around their children. All of this is canon.

The third picture is composed solely of the relatives of the first Captain Boomerang, George “Digger” Harkness. On the far left is his mother, Betty Harkness. Next to Betty is her husband, Ian Harkness, and next to Ian is W. W. Wiggins. While married to Ian, Betty had an affair with Wiggins that produced Digger. Ian knew Digger wasn’t his son and treated him cruelly; while W.W. Wiggins never acknowledged Digger as his son at all. Next to Wiggins is “Aussie” Green, who was introduced as Digger’s dad in a Bronze Age Flash issue prior to Crisis on Infinite Earths. He was cheery and good-natured, and is the only one of Digger’s three dads who seemed to actually love him. Although if he really was Digger’s dad, shouldn’t his last name have been “Harkness?” “Green” was just an alias Digger used. (Cary Bates probably got a character’s name wrong again.) The couple next to “Aussie” are a pair of criminals whom Digger hired to pretend to be his parents in his first-ever appearance, Flash #117. The woman’s first name was Sally, and she was once an actress. All of the names and backstories are canon.

On the far left of the bottom picture are Alan Walker and his wife Barbie; Axel Walker’s dad and stepmom. Next to them is Alice Strickland, Axel’s mother. Axel’s dad is a wealthy used car salesman who divorced Axel’s mother when Axel was nine. He hired a slick lawyer to ensure that he wouldn’t have to pay to support his ex-wife or son, then proceeded to remarry a woman who was only 12 years older than Axel. Alice, who had been a stay-at-home mother prior to the divorce, was left penniless, and she and Axel were both plunged into near-poverty. Except for the fact that Axel’s parents are divorced, I made all this up.

Next to Axel’s mom are Digger Harkness and Meloni Thawne, the parents of Owen Mercer, the second Captain Boomerang. They met when Captain Boomerang was transported to the future with amnesia and somehow this produced Owen. This is canon, but we know very little about how any of this actually happened.

#flash rogues #captain boomerang #osgood and rachel rathaway #larry snart #walter wiggins #parents #fanart #flash comics #dc comics

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krinsbez · 4 years ago

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Super-Sizing the Superfamily: A DC Comics Storybuilding Project

So, on a forum I post on, we’ve been working on a storybuilding project. To wit, we plan to envision a selection of Superman and related comic books, if the Superman family was allowed to be even bigger than the Batman family, with multiple Superboys and Supergirls, as well as various other characters. To this end, we are be using multiple different versions of some characters, as well as occasionally decompositing existing characters.

At the bare minimum, I'd like to come up with a set of Superman Family titles (not everyone gets their own book, of course), and plot out a year of storylines, culminating in a Superman Family Crossover. Ideally we'd go beyond that as well, but given how ambitious that goal is, I'm not holding my breath.

The project has hit a bit of a wall ATM, so I figured now was as good a time as any to post what we’ve got so far on Tumblr. With his permission, I am tagging @davidmann95, the Internet’s Premier Supermanologist, to get his opinion, but anyone is free to comment or make suggestions.

We begin with... The "Core" Super-fam. Note that this is not an exhaustive list of characters appearing in this thing: -Clark (Superman) -Lois -Jon (Superboy Blue?) -Chris (Superboy Red?) -Kon (Kid Cadmus) (decomposite, based on original, Jacket version) -Conner (?) (decomposite, based on later, Geoff Johns/YJ version) -Kara Zor-El I AKA Zara (Supernova) (decomposite Modern Supergirl , based on TV Show version) -Kara Nim-El AKA Nara (Supergirl) (Variation on Silver Age Supergirl)* -Kara In-Ze AKA Iara (Blue Bombshell) (DCAU Supergirl)** -Kara Zor-El II AKA Tara (Miss Metropolis) (decomposite Modern Supergirl, based on "Cheerleader" version)*** -"Cir-El" (Tomorrow Girl) -Mae (Matrix) (I'm gonna say that for our purposes, she managed to come back after being separated from Linda) -Linda (Mighty Maid) (as per the post-Earth-Angel part of PAD's comic, with the Earth-Angel thing being backstory which we will leave vague) -Kristen (Superwoman) -Karen (Power Girl)**** -Mon-El (?) -"Uncle Carl" (decomposite Bizarro. Imperfect clone, somewhat "cured") -Bizarro #1 (decomposite, Imperfect duplicate, lives on Htrae, etc.) -Jimmy -Perry -Lucy -Kenan (New Super-Man) -John Henry (Steel) -Natasha (Steel? Starlight?) -Lana -Krypto -Streaky -Ma and Pa (I've seen good arguments for one or both of them being deceased by the modern-era...but I'm including them anyways) Possible members: -Lori Lemaris -Luma Lynai -Marvel Maid and Marvel Man -Vartox -Strange Visitor -Sally Selwyn -Lyla Ler-Rol -Thara Ak-Var -Alpha Centurion -More I'm not thinking of.

*In the Silver Age, Jor-El had two brothers, his younger brother Zor, Kara's dad, and his twin Nim-El. We are making this Kara daughter of the former rather than the latter, born on Argo City, which survived the destruction of Krypton, named for her presumed dead cousin, sent to Earth when the systems keeping the city alive began to fail. **Keeping mostly the S:TAS backstory, with the caveats that the people of Argos were Kryptonian colonists, not a separate species, and that she's a relative of Zor-El's wife Alura In-Ze, with "Kara" and "In-Ze" being common family names. ***Something her ship encountered on her journey to Earth created a duplicate that took even longer to arrive, and was the subject of the previous Superfam crossover. ****The original "Super Girl", magically created by Jimmy wishing into existence a perfect mate for Superman.

Next, The Superfam books and casts thereof (not distinguishing between main, supporting, and recurring characters) (no villains as of yet. Mostly)

-Action Comics: Anthology title, each issue spotlighting different members of the Super-Fam.

No specific cast.

-Superman: Duh.

Somehow, I don't think we've specifically cast this one.

-Lois Lane: Again, duh. Serious journalism, with occasional Wacky Hijinks.

Lois

Clark

Perry

Jimmy

Lucy

Gen. Lane

Lex's administrative staff (Mercy, Ms. Tesmacher, the Loisbot, etc.), whom she is “casually bitchy” with

As-Yet-Unselected-Police-Contact

Bibbo

-Jimmy Olsen: Third verse, same as the first.

Jimmy

The Planet staff

Iara (who he's dating; superspeed makes long =-distance relationships easy)

The New Newsboys (Famous Bobbie included)

Scorn

Ashbury

Misa

-Power Girl: Ditto.

Karen

Atlee

Hiro

Mae

-Cadmus: Again. We're basing this mostly on the bit of Kon's '90s book when he was hanging out on Cadmus, with the caveat that the Hairies moved the Wild Area (and thus the whole damn Project) to a pocket dimension with entrance termini in a number of different locations, including, but not limited to, Metropolis, Honolulu, the Un-Men reservation in Louisiana, and wherever the Justice League of China is headquartered.

Kon

Golden Guardian

The OG now-adult Newsboy Legion

The New Newsboys (Famous Bobbie included)

Dubbilex

Tana

Roxy

Serling

Tekka

Kenan and the JLC

Mickey Cannon

Sam Makoa?

Prince Tuftan and friends

-Adventure Comics: Stories about Conner, Iara, and Tara hanging around Smallville; inspired largely by Kon's late '00s title. Back-up feature is stories about Clark's Superboy years.

Conner

Iara

Tara

Lori Luthor

Lena Luthor I

Simon Valentine

Psionic Lad

Lana

Loretta "Golden Genie" York (the character formerly known as the Yellow Peri)

-Sons of Superman: Starring Jon and Chris.

Chris

Jon

Lois

Clark

Beacon

Jor-El AI

Kelex

Ma & Pa

Lucy

Kon

Conner

Kristin

-Planet Comics: About the adventures of the Daily Planet crew in general. Workplace comedy, Clark keeps the glasses on, mostly.

Perry

Lois

Clark

Jimmy

Cat

Steve Lombard

Ron Troupe

Dirk Armstrong

Angela Chen

(I'd like to feature more of the various folks who've been shown working for the Planet over the years)

-Streets of Metropolis: Comparatively gritty stories about battling street-level crime, starring Gangbuster, Black Lighting and fam, and the MPD.

Jeff

Anissa

Jennifer

Lynn

Gangbuster (let's face it, most of y'all wouldn't recognize his real name)

Maggie

Turpin

Henderson

Leocadio

-National Comics (alt. title: Supernova and the DEO): Zara's adventures trying to make it on her own in National City, whilst helping Alex and the DEO.

Zara

Tara (commuting from Smallville)

Linda

Mon-El

Alex

Director Bones (standing in for the show’s version of J’onn, though the relationship is *probably* less familial)

Cameron Chase?

Winn

Simone D'Neige (standing in for the show’s version of Cat Grant)

Lena Luthor II (standing in for the show’s version of her aunt; we’re assuming that she stayed aged up after being de-Brainiaced)

Dreamer

-Steel and the Girls of Steel (need a better title): Starring John Henry, Natasha, Cir-El, and Traci 13.

John

Henry

Natasha

“Boris”

Cir-El

Mia (i’m counting Cir-El and her alter ego as separate characters)

Traci 13

The Supermen of America (a team, including Super-Chief and “Iron” Munro, inspired by Superman’s example, that John Henry is training)

-Nightwing and Flamebird. Adventures in the Bottle City of Kandor, which is majority Kryptonian but has a sizable population of other species. Despite the title, the eponymous duo are not the protagonists, but rather an ordinary citizen who’s taken it upon themselves to unravel the mystery of their secret identity (the truth is that an assortment of people take turns at wearing those costumes)

-Superman Family. Anthology title, with each issues featuring a team-up between Clark and another member of the Superfam.

No specific cast

There are a few other odds and sods here and there, but that’s most of it, asides from the fact we’ve decided to costume the Supergirls thusly:

-Karen, of course, wears the Power Girl costume. -Cir-El has a distinct costume already. -Linda is rocking the DCSHG look.* -Iara has her S:TAS look.* -I wanna say Nara's wearing one of the Bronze Age-era outfits, but they might be too '70s to really work? -Mae is wearing a somewhat sexier version of the classic look (I'm imagining she's the second-most vavavoom-y of the Supergirls after Karen). -Zara I is wearing the second TV show suit with the pants. -Zara II (Tara?) is wearing the Jim Lee cheerleader outfit. Note: despite both being a miniskirt and bellyshirt, her outfit is notably skimpier than Iara's, with a shorter, lower slung skirt, and a tighter top with...what's the right way of saying there's less of it? This is her deliberately distinguishing herself from her older duplicate's more modest look. *May switch these, IDK.

#Superman #Supergirl #Superboy #Lois Lane #Jimmy Olsen #Fanfic ideas #DC Comics #DC Comics Fanfic

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littlelegend · 4 years ago

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Musical StH AU

It started with a silly drawing and now I want to share every single thought I got with the world.

In the world of this AU magic doesn't exist and the technology is on the same level as the one in our world.

So the main character of the AU is my mobian version of Orbot, whose name is Oliver. Orbot is his stage name because he is a famous idol. Robotic part of Orbot is just his stage thing. Cubot is his friendly bodyguard who likes listening to him sing.

Orbot's idol design:

Cat Orbot design was done by @hebby-arts

Eggman is his manager and basically every other major character is a musician too somehow.

Starline is Eggman's assistant who underestimates himself and REALLY wants to be a famous in show buisness but Eggman teaches him nothing and only uses him for running around with his coffee.

Infinite is a leader of a hardcore heavy metal band called "The Jackal Squad". Infinite's mask is their logo.

Miles (Anti-Tails) plays the second guitar in Scourge's band "Suppression Squad" while also secretly being an idol on the side. Oliver and Miles are the part of the same idol agency so they sing together at times. Miles lied to the "Suppression Squad" that Tails is the actual idol and he just helps him out because if they knew they'd laugh at him.

Sonic, Knuckles and Tails are not singers, they are a famous dancing team that is known for making the craziest moves on stage. The moves themselves sometimes are actually dangerous, so all the kids are warned not to repeat them. Staged dance fighting is their specialty.

Antoine is a choreography teacher that basically works for every idol/band in town and also exclusive trainer for Sonic's crew.

Antoine's design was made by @kotomisadventures

Bunnie, Amy, Sally and Blaze created a girls only band that just oozes with charm. They called themselves "Heavy hitters" and Cream and Cheese are their little mascots. Antoine and Bunnie met when he was creating a routine for them. Siver is Blaze's talented friend and the one in charge of special effects during their performances. Some people even suspect that those are not special effects but magic.

Shadow's adoptive sister Maria taught him how to play guitar and after she died he used to play for food on the streets until Rouge found him and offered to take a part in the project. He became a very powerful goth/emo/(insert dark angsty subculture here because I am dumb and don't know them) icon that all girls swoon over because he is such a bad boy. Rouge manages him with a pretty big record company backing her up and Omega is a former thug who was so touched by one of Shadow's songs about Maria, he actually joined the team as Shadow's private bodyguard.

"The Hooligans" is a band with obvious members, they are not too good, but they are pretty popular underground despite the fact that their music is usually just consists of the covers of other popular songs.

Chaotix is a background band. None of them sings because Vector and Charmy have horrible voices and Espio doesn't like to be in the center of attention. They still work as detectives and sometimes give exclusive information to the newspapers. Charmy was let on the team because surprisingly enough he has a very natural talent with drums. They get by by playing at restaurants and on different celebrations when they can't get a gig at some famous performance. Espio can shred on guitar quite well, but he taught that to Vector and prefers the piano or that other electronic key instrument (forgot the name again).

And that's basically it. It's not much but it's something I've been thinking about all day. If you have any other fun ideas, feel free to add them/send them in)

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sallytheseamstress · 4 years ago

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HAPPIESTPLACEHQ Task 5 - Family

Describe your character’s family

Do they know their family? Were they raised by them?

Sally’s only family, as far as she knows, is her own father, William Godwin Finkelstein. They have lived together for her entire life. However, as much as Sally is acquainted with her father’s little quirks, likes and dislikes, there is a lot of his own history she ignores: she is aware, from what he has told her through grievances and recollections, that William used to be an extremely successful and respected authority in the field of biochemistry and reproductive biology, having published several books and papers regarding the origins of life, and won awards and accolades from many academies for his research into topics such as in vitro fertilization, evolution of sexual reproduction, and development and evolution of the human brain. All this somehow vanished, apparently overnight, due to some mysterious incident William is extremely bitter about and which he refuses to discuss. The fact that everything points to it happening somewhere along the date of her birth further stresses the possibility that William blames Sally in some way for his decline. Apart from her father, Sally does not know anyone else from her family. She has found some few photos in attic boxes of who she assumes are her paternal grandparents, but doesn’t know their names, has never met them, nor knows if her father has ever had any siblings. In the case of her mother, Sally has even less to go with. She has neither her name nor a picture nor a blurry memory, only some idea of her voice and a lullaby she used to sing to her; yet Sally suspects this may be a fake memory, created by her own mind and taken from some movie or some radio show she has heard as a child. Sally has tried to question her father regarding her mother, but he never yielded and continues to stand by the single fact that she is no longer in contact with them, and wants nothing to do with them anymore.

What was your character’s relationship like with their parents?

Sally’s relationship with William is, to put it shortly, fraught. He is extremely dependent on her to care for him, which includes doing all domestic chores, cooking, helping him up and down the stairs, bathing him, dressing him, and often even escorting him places. She tries to take this in stride, though William himself is extremely irritated by having to rely on her for almost everything. As a way to feel in control of something, William was always very strict on what Sally was allowed to do and not do, where to go, at what times she must be back home, and of handling her earnings as soon as she got a job. While at first he managed to keep her intimidated enough to obey him, as Sally grew up into a teenager she began to rebel against her father: first by sneaking out the house at night, usually just to spend some time on her own; later by refusing to wear her wig, letting her natural hair grow and dying it bright red; and then by spending less time back home, refusing to do her chores and openly arguing with William about the house rules. This changed when, one night while she was out during Halloween, Sally came back home to find the open door, milk spilled on the kitchen, broken dishes on the dining room, and her father pushed off his wheelchair, lying on the floor. Some children had played “trick” on him when he refused to hand them any candy, and the guilt made Sally rethink her behavior, and go back at taking care of William to the best of her abilities, resuming her daily chores and responsibilities.

Overall, how did the idea of family affect your character?

Family is extremely important for Sally, and one of her basic motivations. She always tries to help others feel comfortable and at home, and for that she often takes on a motherly role in order to make sure others are alright, usually through acts of service. Despite this, Sally is also a pretty vulnerable, sensitive person, which tends to turn her around into a “child” role, needing protection and support –most of which she never truly got from her father –around people she feels she can trust. In that sense, family for Sally is similar to the concept of community, which she also strongly values: a mutually-advantageous relationship based on trust and care.

Thinking about the future, do they want to make a family of their own? What would that look like to them?

As a surprise to no one, Sally likes children, and as a kid has fantasized with being a mother. She does wish to have a large family, to get herself a big house where to host parties where everyone’s invited, for there to be a place for all family members to feel welcome and loved –possibly as a way to make up for the lack of familial bonds she herself had. Still, despite her fantasies, Sally greatly fears becoming a bad mother, or of inadvertently following into her father’s footsteps as an overprotective yet distant parent. Besides this, she is convinced she couldn’t be a single mother; Sally most of all wishes to have a partner, someone she can rely on and with whom she can raise that family of her dreams; but this presents its own difficulties, what with her shyness and difficulty talking about her own desires and wishes for her future.

Family Tree

#happiestplacetask #happiestplacetask5 #sally finkelstein #. HEADCANONS { try as i may it doesn’t last }

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killingeveperspectives · 4 years ago

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Perspective: Did Villanelle’s character arc in Season 3 get lost in translation?

Killing Eve Season 3 became something of my object of fascination by the odd disjointed experience I have watching it. It feels like it makes sense at first, but the whole lot is rather off. The more I revisit it, the more it appears that what we see on the surface is but an attempt at telling a very different story. But precisely by failing to convey their intended story (Or not committing to), the authors inadvertently created a slate with enough inconsistencies that it fits any rationalization the audience wants to impose on the final product. Its lack of clarity and internal logic made it adaptable to several points of view. I can impose the interpretation that Villanelle was given an irreconcilable redemption arc, or that she is still a psychopath and it will still somewhat work.

However, when the season is consumed stripped from our expectations, there is a dissonance between the narrative and the other elements of storytelling which sends mixed signals, especially in the most developed storyline in the season: Villanelle’s character arc. In the midst of this confusion and inability to get a hold of the character, I tried to grasp the intent of the author instead of the material itself. Upon reading interviews with Suzanne Heathcote, Sally Woodward and Jodie Comer, many of my initial interpretations of her arc were challenged. They seemed to never seek to rectify Villanelle’s psychopathy or nature, but to explore her deep need to belong. There seemed to be an awareness towards the truth of the character, and the journeys they have been on so far. It appears that their idea is that her impulses are her true self and the tension arises from the inescapability of her own nature and its exploitation, which becomes the sole designator of her worth as a being. This is indeed much more interesting than what I initially interpreted. So, I want to revisit Villanelle’s character arc with new eyes... in more detail... and see if I can find something new.

Villanelle’s initial motivations set-up a “ Self-affirmation” arc, not a Redemption arc

Initially, the show seems to set two main motivations for Villanelle: a search for autonomy and a search for belonging, which will prompt her desire to become a keeper and find her family. Objectively, her motivations set up a journey for authentic self-identity.

The opening wedding sequence is a good way of introducing her search for autonomy. Six months after Rome, Villanelle is gold digging her way through life, still very psychopathic of her. This is the first time we see Villanelle exist without a parental figure and without the tight control of ‘The 12’, and it turns out she is doing just fine. Where her wedding represents her agency and autonomy, being dragged into ‘The 12’ by Dasha has her sitting in the back of the car like a moody toddler. Her relationship with ‘The 12’ is infantilizing, controlling and coercive. It does plant the seeds for her struggle by visual storytelling, which I dismissed for a silly comedic effect.

Villanelle seems more aware of the power plays behind her bargain to come back, contrasting with her previous aloofness. This time, she seems keen on cutting her own part of the deal which is to become a Keeper (which oddly never involves getting the names of ‘The 12’). Her request is so absurd, and their agreement to make her a keeper so obviously fake, that it shows how Villanelle is truly unaware of the magnitude of what she is dealing with and how little leverage she actually has. But her effort to carve some degree of freedom and agency within her world is an authentic motivation. Her overall disinterest for the job also helps to solidify the idea that she is dreading being controlled, and only agrees to perform the kills as part of her promotion process. Which should not be confused – although it easily is – with a lack of enjoyment in Killing. In fact, Villanelle thoroughly enjoys herself in the kills she performs before Episode 5, be it improving on a relic, stealing a baby, or scaring hiccups away. Villanelle isn’t opposed to killing, she is tired of being ordered to kill. As welcomed as this development is, in many moments her motivations could be mistaken by childlike Villanelle just being capricious.

Parallel to her self-affirmation comes a search for a sense of belonging. This is a deep foundational motivation for the character that had always been in the subtext of the show. There is a fascination towards family and normal life in Villanelle, that she tries to recreate with those she “loves”. Arguably not even the character can articulate this urge, so when Season 3 sets to explore it, it feels forced. Villanelle seems intrigued by the gratuitous affection the baby elicits in people, including those that don’t own it, leading her to kidnap the baby as an experiment, then literally toss it away. It did not elicit in her the gratuitous affection it elicits in everyone around her. She is a psychopath. When the baby is reunited with their father, she is once again puzzled at the happiness in the dad’s face. The baby belonged to him. Did she ever belong to someone? This question will lead her to seeking her own family, taking her to Russia.

Being so far removed from the events of season 2 and considering that Konstantin and Villanelle’s scene was completely overshadowed by the subsequent events, I found it hard to add weight to this motivation. A large part of the audience is understandably eager to learn about Villanelle’s past, however there wasn’t enough development to justify why the character wanted to learn about her past. Instead, she enunciates her newfound fascination with babies, without elements or events to convincingly move the character in this direction.

Villanelle’s journey home: nuanced and conflicted story telling got lost in translation

I have broken down how I believe this episode not only retcons her background, but soft retcons Villanelle’s psychopathy and her entire character – and I still believe in practical terms it inevitably does - but it’s a shame, because the episode in itself doesn’t. It’s all about perception and expectation tainting interpretation. The writer’s original idea was to have the audience go on a journey with Villanelle to this disconnected corner of the world, as she is surprisingly charmed by the oddity of what she finds. It was the perfect escapism from her claustrophobic world of ‘The 12’. We wrestle with the nature x nurture question as Villanelle wrestles with it herself, we feel at home, we connect with the family and feel rejected and deceived as Villanelle does herself. This episode was written from Villanelle’s perspective alone, she is the voice telling the story, we are literally asked to see it from her eyes:

But there is a catch: Villanelle is an unreliable narrator. The writer did plant elements that challenge Villanelle’s narrative, mainly as glimpses of other characters perspectives: Bor’ka has a normal loving drawing of his mother on the fridge; Pyotr likes his mother alright and challenge’s Villanelle’s perception of their mother meanness, by stating Villanelle herself used to be mean to him, implying a connection between the two; the husband reveals that Tatiana still cries every night because of the whole thing. All of which becomes the core problem with this episode: Villanelle is an unreliable narrator but we don’t perceive her as such because of our emotional investment in the character. Who is to say Villanelle’s tendencies and behaviour didn’t genuinely scare and tear the family apart and without knowing what to do after her husband died, Tatianna abandoned Oksana in the orphanage, despite genuinely suffering from the decision? Tatianna is a very flawed mother and Oksana is a very troubled child, both these realities are valid and interconnected, in the most nuanced, emotionally challenging and complex episode of the entire show.

Underneath Villanelle’s standpoint, Suzanne Heathcote managed to hide a sensible and honest perception of that family’s complicated past: the heartbreaking reality is that deep down, despite all the layers of pain, trouble, blame, shame and guilt, both characters wished it was different and they could somehow connect, but the truth is that they were, and still are, unable to. Thus, both characters were speaking their truths, however we are not afforded a chance to truly see her mother’s perspective because we are stuck in Villanelle’s world and Villanelle has empathy for no one (Except for her little brother but I don’t want to beat on this dead horse). Despite her manipulative and violent behavior towards her family, from where Villanelle stands - and within her own perspective rightfully so - her mother was simply neglectful, abusive, and worse: saw her as something alien. Thus, having her mother admit her own “darkness” was so important: This darkness I carry belongs to you, therefore I belong to you. Ingenious. Upon revisiting this episode, I truly appreciate it as a showcase of the potential of Suzanne Heathcote’s writting, with beautifully crafted storytelling that seems straightforward at the surface but invites us to dive deeper. Unfortunately, this gem is lost in translation.

The episode was all about how Villanelle made sense of herself and her past, not about what really happened, as the writers claimed they didn’t want to excuse Villanelle’s actions nor erase her psychopathy. It wasn’t about the authoritative writers explaining Villanelle’s past to the audience and deliberately painting Villanelle as a child tortured into becoming a monster because of her upbringing… the problem is that it feels like it was. And when later you add Dasha’s abuse to the mix, the retcon of her psychopathy is irresistible to the audience, but the creators are not naïve and especially as the word “psychopath” seem to have vanished from their vocabulary, when previously it was the selling point of the show; something doesn’t add up. Killing her mother marks a turning point in Villanelle’s character arc, and here things start to get complicated...

Killing her mother sets Villanelle in an identity crisis but what is it exactly?

When Villanelle gets rejected, she kills her mother and sets the house on fire mirroring the orphanage arson. In the train scene, we see Villanelle wearing her mother’s clothes and listening to crocodile rock while crying, smiling, jamming, reminiscing. Despite her efforts to wrap herself in the elements that symbolize the moments she felt like she belonged with that family, she is still alone and there is a lot of pain – fair, psychopaths are not painless. But what that scene represents for Villanelle is an enigma, and I believe not Jodie Comer, nor Suzanne Heathcote, nor anyone, actually knows what this scene is really supposed to mean emotionally for Villanelle.

I want to contrast this scene with another scene in a movie where we watch an actress cycling through many emotions in a long shot as she listens to music: the final 2:30 minute long take in Portrait of a Lady on fire. The scenes parallel each other, and kudos to the unafraid acting of Jodie Comer and Adele Haenel. However, there is a key difference between the two: Celinne Sciamma (screenwriter and director) knew exactly what she was looking for and walked the lead actress Adele Haenel through all the emotions she would be evoking, their succession order and meaning. All the emotions conjured in the scene were carefully crafted in the audience throughout the entire movie, generating a deep connection and understanding of the characters, the story and its symbols, that culminates in an apotheotic cathartic release. That scene was not just a beautiful, emotionally loaded scene: it had intent, it had a clear meaning. And from there on is where Villanelle’s emotional scenes start to break apart.

The display of a person suffering through emotional pain will obviously evoke feelings of compassion, care and empathy in the audience, but this level of immediate reactive connection does not equal an understanding of characters’ emotional reality. It’s important that audiences not only know that the character is in pain but what that pain means, even more so when you are exploring the boundaries of emotion in a character that has a fundamentally different subjective experience than the audience. Given the lack of build up and more extensive exploration of the mother and daughter relationship, it’s not only harder to add the appropriate emotional weight as it is to understand it’s ramifications. Thus, despite lots of tears, Villanelle remains an emotional black box after coming back from Russia.

On the other hand, there is this interesting motif with Villanelle that death brings freedom: once a person is dead, they cease to have a hold on her, allowing her to reinvent herself. For example, when Eve hurt her in the season 2 finale, she kills her to break free from her hold. In her own words: “I’m so much better now my ex is dead”. This motif is again brought up in her conversation with Bertha Kruger in episode 04. As Villanelle tries to reinvent herself after killing her mother and whatever that meant, she learns she was being tricked by ‘The 12’ and that her promotion was a farce, bringing her full circle. She went through these journeys and still didn’t break free: she was still controlled and still rejected, thus her only solution was escape literally and metaphorically.

Her mother rejected her because of her violence, which is precisely the only worth ‘The 12’ see in her. Both of her Nemesis reduce her to the same image: she is a violent kid that kills. Thus, her shifting relationship with killing becomes more interesting when it is framed as a desire for self-affirmation and not as a rectification of her nature as the result of a new found moral compass and compassion, which places Villanelle in the same territory as traditional female assassin characters before her. She is reclaiming her identity, from her past and from her subjugators, hence the motivation to not kill could be seen as a deliberate act of rebellion. However, it is unclear how concrete this motivation is, given that she does indeed keep murdering, and how it interplays with the emotional changes we are shown the character is going through, altogether making her distancing from killing narratively elusive.

Character development couldn’t commit to a narrative, going from nuanced to disorienting

Part of the charm in Killing Eve is what is left unsaid and implied, but nevertheless registers, connects. This relies on the smart use of character expositions and film language to efficiently get the audience on board with the character’s world organically. All previous season’s made good use of monologues and dialogue to flesh out the world and specially characters. In Season 1, Villanelle was explored and developed through excellent dialogues, and in Season 2, when exploring her intimate inner reality, the writers opted to use the AA meetings for a direct exposition via a monologue that tied together previous visual and narrative set up elements.

This type of efficient character exploration doesn’t lend itself well to the nuanced layered exploration the writers set out to do in season 3. And still, they stubbornly committed to it, withholding characters from fleshing out information through dialogue, while overplaying ‘show don’t tell’ trying to convey character’s inner realities with fragmented elements scattered over a disjointed plot, thus relying heavily on the actors to create a semblance of coherence out of the cacophony. I truly believe this choice was extremely detrimental to the season, since it created unnecessary challenges for the main goal which was character exploration. The result is an unsettling gap between the writers’ vision of the characters and their arcs, and what we, the audience, experience.

I want to take a moment to explore examples of storytelling choices that I found confusing in developing Villanelle past episode 05, by taking a look on her 3 murders after she comes back from Russia.

In the Romania kill, we see Villanelle sitting on the bed halfhearted, downgraded into taking this job after her promotion debacle. The title card links us back to the scene in the beginning of the episode when she realizes she was conned. This is bullshit, this job is bullshit, and yet she has to do it. All elements are underlying the conflict in her search for autonomy, but then the song in the background evokes sentimentalism, underlying Villanelle’s growing feelings, subtly implying she feels bad about the act of killing. The scene composition sends mixed signals. Then it cuts to Villanelle ready for the kill with the upbeat recap intro music playing (????), she can’t focus, gets stabbed and cut to an angry tear-eyed Villanelle stitching up her own wound in the bathroom floor, fleshing out how she felt used and that she wants out. Then for a moment, the scene gets more intimate and she says - or even confesses? - she doesn’t want to do it anymore. We look down to a defeated and vulnerable Villanelle underlying the characters impotency or is it a moral struggle? The entire sequence purposely avoids committing to whether she failed because she didn’t want kill, or because she couldn’t kill. These two conflicts have completely different implications in interpreting and understanding the character development, but we remain in the limbo, confused as to what it could be.

To make matters worse, both these motivations: quitting ‘The 12’ and stopping killing, will be flipped when Villanelle pro-actively asks for a job and decidedly kills Dasha (who survived out of plot contrivances luck ). The scene with Helene is also interesting. When Villanelle meets Helene there is a conflict around identity and belonging. A particularly childlike Villanelle is again falling into tears as Helene breaks into her personal space with an embrace. Villanelle gives in to the embrace then pulls away at the mention of the word monster. That is not the identity Villanelle wants, nevertheless it feels good to be accepted. Then Villanelle asks an exasperated Helene for another job, not before being reminded she is a child, again powerless.

“Look what you made me do” playing in the background.The song alludes to the power domination she is under and her motivation to break free, but the entire scene alludes to her conflict over her self-perception and belonging with Helene as a mother figure. I’m nor sure I follow what the character wants, I’m hanging on a spiderweb on the wall, Villanelle is crying, and can we please stop torturing this character into feelings for five minutes? Who is this reformed character? Jokes aside, there is one message that emerges, which is Villanelle doesn’t want to be a “monster” (violent killer, or more subtly violent in general) but she is forced to do it. This scene does succeed in softening Villanelle by emphasizing this new narrative leap following her seeming new found conscience: that Villanelle was made into a violent woman, but she is not naturally one. Her brutality is not transgressively hers anymore, it is a burden imposed onto her, which again places Villanelle’s character back into the comfort of the place designated to violent female characters: sad broken woman went murderous. Which stands in sharp contrast with Villanelle characterization so far, and what made her character iconic in it’s own right. The only way to make this narrative work is assuming killing her mother erased her psychopathy and gave her the whole bag of feelings and empathy. But if episode 05 fails to sell that, then the following episodes feels like tumbling down a rocky narrative slope. But the seed still lingers on my mind after reading paratext from the creators and cast: if you’re not trying to retcon Villanelle, then what does this all mean?

Rhian’s murder is a pivotal moment in Villanelle’s arc that fell into obscurity by jarring storytelling. Here the narrative seems to finally address the elephant in the room: when push comes to shove, can she control her violent impulses, which, no matter if inherited or cultivated, became a core part of herself? The ballroom tea dance effectively distances Villanelle from killing, but Villanelle and Rhian’s exchange show things aren’t so simple. More overtly so, Rhian and Villanelle subway brawl is all about giving Villanelle a chance to fully articulate the conflict around her subjugation to ‘The 12’ and her self-agency. Villanelle beats up Rhian, which could symbolically represent her refusal to be an obeying “sheep”; but, despite trying to get a grip of herself, her nature takes over and she kills, which could represent the uncontrollability of her impulse. Thus, the interaction between these two scenes, ballroom dance and Rhian’s kill create a conflict surrounding Villanelle’s nature, self-control and capability to change that goes beyond the central conflict of each scene alone. Interesting, better explore it late than never, right?

The next scene seems to give us the resolution of this conflict, as Villanelle exits the subway, marching forwards, defiantly looking at us while we hear “Nothing matters if you bury it deep” in the background. It sends a message that Villanelle ultimately embraced her nature, and perhaps herself, and by doing so symbolically broke free from the oppression, emerging victorious. One could say she found her mojo back by killing on her terms. However, this never has any effects on the character, Villanelle is still as conflicted about her self-identity and still expresses her desire stop killing when we meet her again in the final scene as if her march after killing Rhian never happened. so what was the writers trying to say with the Ryan’s kill sequence when, despite disconnecting and contradicting the previous and following scenes with Eve, it seems to have no effect on Villanelle herself? What narrative are the writers committing to?

Villanelle’s character arc: the faithful translation of a uncommitted vision

Villanelle’s character arc, not that it is her privilege, gets muddled by deliberate ambiguity, character isolation, confusing motivations, and overall disconnected narrative as the writers refuse to commit to a vision. Thus, set-ups, pay-offs, conflicts and cause-effect are muddled, devoiding the character development of tangible meaning or aim – nuanced or otherwise. Despite it all sort of working moment-to-moment, it’s hard to keep up with what is being established overall, the ever shifting and clashing elements making it impossible to crack these characters and their journeys. In threading the fine line between the said and the unsaid, Season 3 had its characters bottling up so much that we are alienated from them. Simply saying “something changed inside her, and she is facing lots of things” doesn’t mean anything. Having the character state that she doesn’t want to kill (be it in general or for ‘The 12′) only to have have your character still actively killing both for ‘The 12′ and for personal reasons and ignoring the conflict it creates, shows the character’s motivations don’t mean anything. Villanelle was in search for an authentic self-identity but in the end who is she? What was this journey all about? Honestly, fixing Villanelle to allow a romance no one really knows.

So my overall impression is that Villanelle’s character wasn’t lost in translation because there wasn’t any coherent vision behind it, but a succession of floating undecided moods and motivations tied together by powerful performances that leaves you feeling like Villanelle was redeemed. Thus, the audience - and arguably the cast and creators - are left relentlessly rationalizing Villanelle so the character doesn’t fall apart. Some see Villanelle truly in love, some see her as obsessing, some see her as emotionless, some see her as a pastiche, some see her as blossoming into her true self, some see her as two different characters (Oksana/Villanelle), some just think she cries a lot, some think she is remorseful, some think she isn’t, some believe she is a psychopath, some think she matured, some think she was never a psychopath and some think she is outright cured. No one fully grasped what is happening with Villanelle, not because her character is complex beyond comprehension but because her character remained conveniently inaccessible. Ultimately, Villanelle’s character growth is a mystery the show teased at but did not commit to crack.

#killing eve #killingeve #killing eve review #killing eve analysis #killing eve season 3 #killing eve s3 #killingeveperspectives #ke #ke s3 #villanelle #villanelle analysis #killing eve retcon #villanelle retcon

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mobius-prime · 5 years ago

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246. Sonic the Hedgehog #177

Home, New Home

Writer: Ian Flynn Pencils: Tracy Yardley! Colors: Jason Jensen

As the Egg Fleet approaches New Mobotropolis, Nicole erects a forcefield-like shield around the entire city, protecting it from the bombardment that Snively, leading the fleet, begins dropping on it. With the shield protecting everyone, however, a slightly more immediate concern reveals itself - namely, the many criminals that have been teleported here along with the actual residents of Knothole, who see an opportunity to not only break free of the justice system, but take a few of the citizens with them.

Amazing speech on your part there, Mogul. Really, it's a wonder everyone didn't immediately fall at your feet. Sonic and Sally are impressed at Nicole's foresight, only to become concerned when her hologram begins flickering and she appears to show signs of pain in response to more shells hitting the city's shield. She tells them that she has to devote most of the city's power supply to keeping the shield up, and reassures Sally that she'll always be nearby even when they can't see her before disappearing. Sally and Elias address the crowd of rescued civilians, telling them that right now they can trust Nicole to keep them safe while they come up with a plan and that for now everyone should find their new homes. Sally stops Sonic, however, and orders him to go get medical attention before he does anything else, something he's predictably a bit grumpy about.

Okay, so this is where we address one of the most controversial things Ian ever included in the comic. It's controversial for good reason. We've already established that one of the major things Ian has been doing for the comic since taking over as head writer is bringing the world of the comics more in line with that of the games, and this includes the various characters and their attitudes. Vector is no longer as insufferable as he was under Kenders, Knuckles is one of Sonic's closest allies now rather than a distant rival, and so on, but this is where the age discrepancy between Charmy from the games and Charmy from the comics becomes a problem. If you'll recall, Charmy is six in the games but sixteen in the comics, and obviously a sixteen-year-old is going to act pretty different from a six-year-old. So how exactly does one take a fairly mature teenager, who's a prince of a lost kingdom and literally engaged to someone else his age, and make him act like a child? Well, I don't have any particularly good ideas myself, but Ian's highly controversial solution was to give him brain damage. From this point on, Charmy suffers from some substantial memory loss, and generally has a much more childlike personality than he once did. There's many problems with this, and others have gone into this topic much more in depth than I care to, but suffice it to say that while giving a character brain damage simply as part of their character arc isn't inherently a bad thing, and can even be a positive if handled right, giving a character brain damage purely as a plot device to make them act more like a child feels incredibly insensitive and insulting. From what I understand, this isn't totally Ian's fault; Sega was pressuring him to make these changes, and I suppose at the time this was all he could think of for the Charmy problem, but I know he has stated later on that he wishes he'd handled this particular issue better, so at least he's acknowledged how bad this whole thing seems. Furthermore, he does appear to treat Charmy as a character with as much respect as possible in future issues, so there's that at least.

Anyway, Saffron is relieved when Charmy happily confirms that he remembers who she is and hugs her, and Dr. Quack moves on from Charmy to take a look at Sonic. It doesn't take him long to confirm his suspicions that indeed, all the magical ring energy Sonic's been exposed to have given him a high resistance to injury as well as apparently an accelerated rate of healing, something which is quite fascinating and I wish would have been expanded upon in this universe's worldbuilding at some point. As Dr. Quack heads off to find his own family, we take a quick look at the Chaos Chamber on Angel Island, where Finitevus appears to be doing some kind of weird ritual with the Master Emerald, reciting Tikal's prayer. Scourge runs up and informs him that Dimitri has run - err, floated off, presumably to contact Knuckles and warn him of Finitevus' treachery. Finitevus, however, merely tells him that this was part of his plan all along, and he isn't concerned, as he'll bring back Enerjak one way or another. Sounds quite ominous indeed…

Hey man, someone needs to remind Antoine that bravery isn't a lack of fear, it's standing up to danger even when you are afraid. Sally becomes lost in thought for a moment, remembering all the times she led the Freedom Fighters into danger in the past, long before she was ever thrust into the role of acting ruler or forced into a disastrous arranged marriage. She suddenly stands up and reminds Bunnie of her old hairdressing ambitions, and asks her for one more favor before they begin their defense against Eggman's attack… Meanwhile up in the sky, Snively continues to try to break through New Mobotropolis' shield, only to become startled when a single, tiny aircraft begins firing onto his flagship. His robots prepare to return fire, but he suddenly orders them to stand down with a look of shock, and contacts the plane… having recognized it as the plane that Hope built. Hope yells at him through the comm when he opens a channel, furious that she took his advice and went to Station Square, but when she tried to return to Knothole, which she still considered home, it was in ruins. She blames him for all of it, too ashamed to show her face to the Mobians again after leaving, and begins to sob.

I absolutely love the way that these comics continue to humanize Snively more and more. I feel so bad for Hope here, especially knowing that none of the Mobians would blame her for what happened, but as for Snively, it's clear that despite his nature, he does value family, and does care about Hope. He's gone from being the cowardly, sniveling, silly minion of the evil Dr. Robotnik to an actual human with flaws, feelings, and attachments. From inside the city shield, Tails watches the bombardment continue with his parents and Merlin, and Amadeus expresses that though the destruction of Knothole was a tragedy, all in all this may actually be a good thing for the populace, as he believes that such a major event will prepare them for "the shift in thinking" that he plans for them. Merlin, however, warns him not to push ahead with any reforms he has in mind too soon, as the monarchy will also be very tense from all this chaos. Rosemary expresses her belief in her husband, and Tails excitedly says he'll support his father no matter what, but the sentiment is interrupted by Eggman's furious screaming from outside the city walls, banging on the shield with his battle suit and yelling for the Freedom Fighters to come out and face him, infuriated that his perfect victory has been stolen from him. Sonic cheerfully interrupts his tantrum, suddenly standing outside the shield, and Eggman is initially pleased, mocking Sonic for not learning from his initial defeat mere hours ago. However, it turns out that Sonic has learned, and with the knowledge that the battle suit was created to counter Sonic and Sonic alone, he and Sally have come up with the perfect plan while Eggman wasn't looking.

The entire Freedom Fighter and Chaotix force descends on Eggman's battle suit, and they're all able to locate weaknesses that Eggman hadn't anticipated in its construction. They tear it apart piece by piece while Sonic gleefully reminds his nemesis that there are more heroes on this planet than just himself, and that anything he can't handle on his own, the others definitely can. In the end, Eggman is left with barely half a shell of his precious armor, furious and humiliated, which leads into perhaps one of my favorite pages of this entire era - perhaps even the entire comic.

Eggman, still unwilling to let victory slip away despite his situation, orders his fleet to fire directly on their location, meaning either he was somehow unaware that this would kill him too, or he was aware, and was more concerned with killing his foes than surviving. Honestly, my bet is on the latter - it seems like something he'd do if angry enough and feeling sufficiently cornered. However, he's forgotten that Nicole has full control over the nanites in the city, and since everything in the city is made of nanites, she's able to stretch the city's wall out to create a wall between everyone out on the field and the bombardment from the Egg Fleet. She projects her form to Eggman and urges him to reconsider his decision, as frankly, Sally is showing him more mercy than he deserves by a long shot. And honestly, she's right - it would be a much better decision to either kill him right there, or, if they're feeling too honorable and whatnot, at least arrest him and shove him in a cell next to Mammoth Mogul…

Well hello there, old haircut! I will say, I did enjoy Sally's long hair while she had it - I thought it looked good on her. But hey, cutting one's hair as a show of maturation is a common fictional trope, and in a way, it's nice to go back to seeing Sally rocking her old look. I will actually note here that while I've mentioned before that Tracy's pencils have standardized the design of a lot of characters, I actually don't care much for his redesign of Sally as a whole. While I appreciate her proportions becoming more like those of every other Mobian - the human body that a lot of other artists gave her looked kind of weird, to be honest - her facial features have actually been significantly altered by his style. She always had a distinctive slanted-back eye shape and a more gentle slope to her nose, but by making her eye shape closer to than of characters like Bunnie and Tails, I feel she's lost some of her unique visual charm. That isn't to say that I think Sally is lesser as a character for this change - she's still one of my top favorites in the series - nor that I disapprove of Tracy's art style as a whole. And in the end, her hairstyle change here marks the beginning of a new era - one where she begins to act once more like her old self and once again joins the others on missions just like old times. She's worked through a lot of the trauma and self-doubt that she's been plagued with ever since Sonic's return to Mobius, and now we can look forward to new adventures with her, in a new location. I mean that "new era" thing literally, by the way. Congratulations, we've reached the end of the comic's fifth era - many of the eras beyond this one are significantly shorter than the ones we've seen previously, but that also means we'll be moving through distinctive arcs a little more quickly, and furthermore, the next era holds some pretty exciting new surprises! Shall we now - how do they say - do it to it?

#nala reads archie sonic preboot #archie sonic #archie sonic preboot #sonic the hedgehog #sth 177 #writer: ian flynn #pencils: tracy yardley #colors: jason jensen

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